Hello, Stranger: A KibaHina Fanfiction
by Fangie-Chan
Summary: After the war ends and Konoha calms, Hinata finally gets her chance with Naruto. But her gain also becomes her loss when Kiba fleets the village with a broken heart, never to return again...Until ten years later, their worlds unexpectedly collide.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey guys, new fic on the rise! This one will be shorter than my others, in amount of words per chapter, at least. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

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><p>Hello, Stranger<p>

You left in such a rush that day, approximately ten years ago. I can still remember it as if it were only yesterday that my dream and your nightmare, both the same in essence, came true; the moment he gave my love for him a chance after the immeasurable time I spent chasing after him; after the war ended, after things quieted. I recall the exact look that hung upon your features when I told you of how him and I finally became one after so long. I engraved in my memory, the sheen in your eyes, the parting of your lips which emitted a gasp of agony; not shock, for you seemed to know all along that one day it'd happen eventually, him and I.

"Really, Hinata?" I hear the echo of your cracking voice, faltering with the blow to your heart you'd always prepare to handle in the most selfless way possible. "Well…That's great. You're happy, then, r-right? So then…I'm happy for you. Really."

You didn't lie, that I knew. You truly _were _happy for me, and I knew you'd always be if it meant my good. Though…When it came to covering the anger that tore through you at your own misery becoming your reality, that, you couldn't hide so well. I saw it in the stiffening of your adolescent shoulders; the tensing in your shaved jaw. I couldn't deny you, nor could I deny that I'd hurt you. You put your wants aside for my sake, yet when it came to you, what had I done? I had realized the hell you'd kept inside of you since we were small and innocent and I brought it to your life.

"I hope you can understand, though, what this means…" You'd whispered out, just before your brows lowered further over your wet eyes, and your voice finally succumbed to an unsteady cry. "I l-love you, Hinata….I always h-have. Since I was-…A freakin' _kid_. And I d-don't wanna hate you, or Naruto, or an-nyone else by staying around this place any longer. If I stay…If I see you and him…_Together_…It'll fucking kill me on the inside. I don't wanna see it. I don't wanna be a part of it. I don't wanna be around it. I don't wanna-…I don't wanna know that the girl I'm madly in love with is with some other guy! I love you…I probably always w-will…So I hope you understand that by me leaving, I'm doing what's best…For _all _of us."

With that, with the cold look you gave me, then, trying to convince yourself more than I that this was all over, that you'd no longer be a part of my story, that you'd suddenly vanish with the intent to never return again-…

…

…

…

You left, without leaving any trace of your wild ways and your brave spontaneity behind but a still, yet passionate kiss upon my lips and the final words you ever spoke in the village we were born and raised in.

"Don't you ever come looking for me, Hinata." You breathed warmly into my mouth, letting more than just our tears mingle together. "Forget about me, and just live your life the way you always wanted to live it…With Naruto Uzumaki. And before you go to bed tonight, pray that I can forget about you too…That I can stop loving you one day, when I have the will to find enough strength for that."

But the truth is…

…

…

…

I never prayed for you that night.

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><p><strong>AN: Reviews appreciated! :) And no, Heat isn't over. Just on a break. I'm gonna work on this one for now. If you need help with the ages, here it is: By the time the war is over and NaruHina happens, I'm placing them all at seventeen. Ten years later and they're all twenty-seven. Good? Good. ^^ And yes...Obviously, this will be a KIBAHINA fic. XD<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Okay, next chapter...Things are taking a curious turn here. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

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><p>Hello, Stranger<p>

If you were here with me now to smell my scent beneath the frozen grave I'd soon perish under, I'm not quite sure I'd let you save me. I'm not quite sure I'd let anyone bring me back, now. With your absence leaving me disintegrating from the inside out bit by gradual bit, the overall little world of Konohagakure had remained pretty much the same, but I, as my life, had changed drastically.

In the beginning, it was all sunshine and happiness, after I'd spent a couple years mourning over your absence and then finally forced myself to move on. I nearly forgot about the thirst you left me with; the thirst for life and joy only you could have truly quenched me with. All the wonderful moments Naruto gave me, all the strength he powered me with to stand on my own and leave your memory behind with fond feelings, it kept me alright for a while…_More _than alright. I was the happiest I'd ever been, when Naruto was finally mine.

For years I spent my meaningless life getting to know someone I thought I knew and thought I honestly loved, only to _begin _knowing him and falling in a deep hole of passion with said man. I was made. I felt complete. Then suddenly…When asked if I'd be willing to spend the rest of my existence with him, as his wife, as the Hokage's first lady, as his everything, I-…I don't know what went wrong. I told him I would. I told _myself _I would. Yet, somehow, I wasn't sure that the life he'd sworn for me to spend with him was what I wanted, in the end.

Before I knew it, I was back where we all began; broken people, their shattered dreams, a reality only destroyed by our own willful hands. I'd ruined just what I wanted for so long, and by my own choice. I gave up who I loved for so long; I let him go when I became so unsure of everything. Just like that, back I was in a lonely pit of confusion and guilt, as you'd left me ten years ago without ever looking back.

But I looked forward…Not at life, but at _you_, leaving me behind like that. Was it worth it? Was it worth it for me to chase such a hopeless dream at the cost of losing you? I ask myself this among many things, to which always, I shake my head to myself and tear my hair out until finally I'd had to sword it off just above my shoulders.

No matter how long I kept the bittersweet memory of you buried deep under piles and piles of regret and agony behind the locked doors of my subconscious, I access it now and I ponder upon what you would have done if you knew about all of this, and I wonder about that even more than I wonder about if you're still alive, even. No one knew. Not even your mother, nor your sister. You took your dog and left every last one of us. No one could trace your scent back. No one could find you after ordered search and ordered search. You vanished into thin air, aside from the burning hole you left within me that I could never truly patch back up together. You left me empty, and after such false glee, I finally realized what a wreck I'd been all along these painful years without you.

I needed you…I _do _need you. If I knew just how much, none of this would have happened. I would have been your one and only and we would be happy today…Not apart…Unknowing of the other's condition.

Now I could only hope that you were dead. Maybe…Maybe then I could find you. Soon, old friend. My time was coming. Slowly…I was slipping away. The trembling was stopping, my heart was giving more and more efforts to keep pumping into my freezing veins.

"Is she-…Is she even alive?"

"Oh God, barely…Hurry, let's get her back to the village."

"But she's not one of us…No hitai-ate either. She must be a rogue."

"Well, whoever she is, we can't just leave her out here like this. You know our leader would never approve of letting one die if one can be saved…Even if this one might indeed be a rogue."

"But-"

"No buts, come on! Let's go before we lose her on the way…He'll be even _more_ angry if we bring a dead woman who's lost her life over our hesitation to save her!"

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><p><strong>AN: Reviews appreciated! :)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I tried to post this up last night, but the site kept acting up. Sorry. But here it is...Enjoy! ;)**

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><p><strong>Chapter Three<strong>

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><p>Hello, Stranger<p>

I thought we'd meet up again tonight in a world beyond our own. I figured I'd come so close…So close to finally drifting off into another realm; one where you might have passed into by now. You were never anywhere I had searched for you in; maybe you were somewhere up there, far gone, given up on everything as I had a long time ago.

I'm sorry…I guess I never made it that far to reach you. You would have been angry with me anyway if you knew I was willing to leave everything behind before my time; even if it meant we'd possibly find each other past the twinkling stars and the gates into eternity.

"She's coming back again…Pulse is steady, now. Phew…For a sec, I thought she was gonna be in real trouble!"

"Yeah, same here…"

"Good job, you two. I'm really proud…You've managed to save this woman and bring her to our village alive and keep her that way. Thank you…So much. I'm going to call in a female guard to watch over her until tomorrow morning just in case her blood-pressure drops too low through the night. That way she can alert the medics right away if this rogue has anything more than just her right foot to lose. Let's hope that's it. Her condition is a fragile one, now."

"Yes, sir. Is she a rogue for sure?"

"Appears to be. A ninja from Konohagakure without her hitai-ate tells me she's a rogue. Since no hunter ninja found her until now, we'll keep her in our own village…At least till I figure out what I'll do with her. You two, make sure no one finds out where she's from, or else, we'll have Konoha nin invading our village just to slay one of their own betrayers. The last thing I need is having this peaceful place turned into a damn slaughter-zone…"

"Yes, sir. Err-…Forgive me for questioning your judgment, but-…How are you so sure that she's indeed from Konohagakure?"

"Do you trust my knowledge?"

"Yes, sir. Of course, sir!"

"Then know that she's from Konoha."

"O-…Okay, sir."

"Ikatsu, find Konohagakure records of rogue female ninja and report them to my office immediately. Shazu, you stay with her until a female guard is secured for the night watch."

"Yes, sir."

Lucky for you, you wouldn't have to lecture me for letting myself fall into death's cold embrace. I was saved, for now; lain into what felt like a small, cozy bed and wrapped in a heavy woolen blanket, as far as I could tell through burning, tingling flesh. I had forgotten what all of that felt like; having somewhere to sleep at night and keep warm. Wandering aimlessly through the countries and villages for so long left me searching for such memories and everything else I took for granted in life…Like _you_. I'm so sorry, Kiba. I'm so sorry. If I could have killed to see your always-grinning, tan face just one more time like I'd been having to kill for food and money to survive, I swear I would have.

"Is her foot prepared?"

"Yeah, the medics should be coming in soon. No signs of the necrotic tissue spreading through her leg, luckily. Good thing her hands and her other foot didn't die. Just some second-degree frostbite in those areas."

"Poor lady. She's real pretty, too. Wonder what made her end up like this?"

"Me too. Well, I guess we'll get some answers out of her when she wakes up after surgery."

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><p><strong>AN: Yes, you read that last part correctly. Sorry. Right foot has to be amputated. As I said, this is a darker fic!<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Things get a little strange for a very confused, newly-conscious Hinata.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

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><p>Hello, Stranger<p>

I awoke to an unfamiliar place lit with nothing but a vile filled with buzzing fireflies. I could tell just by the sounds of the bugs clanking against the glass and flapping their quick wings. For once in such a long time, I was actually warm. More than warm. I was hot, sweating at my hairline, and when I forced myself to painfully shift, I could feel the sweat that had gathered beneath my breasts and at the dip of my back.

"Oh-…She's awake!"

"Should I report the news?"

"Immediately…Hurry!"

"Right!"

My entire body screamed with pain. There seemed to be layers and layers of bandages wrapped around my hands and left foot, where my flesh both tingled and burned with numbness. As for my right foot, it was numb as well; literally. No tingling, no burning. Just this horribly numb sensation beneath my ankle, which seemed to remain that way as I tried to flex my toes and thus received a painful strike of pain that shot up my leg.

"Don't move!"

Quick hands shoved my calf back down to the bed, rendering me still in my own torment. My ankle continued to deliver throbbing jolts of agony up my leg, until I finally knew why when I took my other foot and moved it, only to have it bump into nothing.

I realized then that the reason my right foot was so numb and why I couldn't flex my toes was because none of that was even there in the first place. Everything below my ankle was gone with a straight, clean cut through my flesh and bone, leaving me with nothing but a useless stump.

Was this some kind of horrible nightmare, one worse than what I'd had to live through without you for the past ten years?

A gasp of dry air came tearing down my aching throat when I opened my eyes. I coughed up my own blood and all over myself when I found a surprised-looking woman staring back at me.

"Careful!" She scolded, whipping out a warm, wet towel to wipe me down.

I didn't know who she was. She was stranger, just like you; only, one I'd never been lucky enough to had known at some point in the past. With young, golden eyes that seemed to glimmer in the light of the fireflies and a battle-scarred, dark-skinned face, she gazed back at me, shocked but yet as prepared as ever for any move I'd make next.

"Stay still…!" She hissed in secrecy, frowning at me beneath her baby-pink brows. "You're hurt, you're battered, you're bruised! And you just woke up after sleeping for three days. If I were you, I'd be resting calmly…Can you at least talk, though? What's your name, chick?"

I drew in another rough gasp, only to find that my throat was too weak to do anything but spew out blood. Luckily, this time, the woman caught me right away with the towel. Judging by her reflex and armored uniform, I knew she was some sort of high-ranked guard. From what village, I had no clue. I didn't recognize the carving in the metal of her hitai-ate, which wrapped around her neck just as my own would back in the day.

"Damn." She huffed at my pathetic attempt to speak, drawing a line with her lips and shutting away her amber eyes momentarily. "Guess you can't after all."

"Hikari?"

The woman took no more than an instant to jump up and turn to give a straight posture at the shadowed figure which came into the dim room.

"Yes, sir!" She firmly retorted to her name. "The rogue is awake. Are there any requests as to what I shall do with her?"

"No, not for now…" I heard an unfamiliarly deep voice answer. There was a rasp, a very slight rasp within the richness in the sound that failed to retrieve any auditory memories in my mind after I questioned the possibility.

Wherever I was, I knew not a soul. _Everyone _was a stranger here, it appeared.

"Just keep watching her through her sleep. You're doing a great job, Hikari."

The woman smiled proudly, then. Her eyes sparkled with glee. But I knew not how someone could be so innocently joyous and not terrified when the figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing his frightening self to me. What stood in a village leader's standard, long, white garment seemed to be indeed human, but with the head of a brown and tan wolf. The moment his slanted pupils locked onto mine as if I were some sort of target or his next prey, I shut my eyes tightly as if to block out his fearsome appearance. I didn't want to look at what my vision was showing me. What I saw seemed like something right out of a nightmare; enough that more a moment I wondered if I was saved and brought to this place to be a sacrifice for his foreign village.

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><p><strong>AN: Guys, no crazy theories on this guy being Kiba magically cursed with the head of a doggy. LOL. XD<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Nice reviews, you guys. XD I like where the guesses and theories are going. Lots of creativity!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Five<strong>

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><p>Hello, Stranger<p>

If I'd ever just a smidge of your immeasurable bravery, perhaps it would have been enough to face the nightmarish beast that stood before me at my new bedside. Instead, burdening the pathetic lack in backbone I was cursed for a lifetime with, I just laid there trembling, cowering in fear, with not a move I could possibly hope to make.

As I remained rendered by my weakness, the beastly creature just stood there, towering over the female guard that was meant to watch me. He'd tower over me too if I still had my right foot to balance upon with the left. I figured he must have been perhaps a head taller than mine…But a _human _head; not a-…Not a grown wolf's. As for his body, nothing about it beneath his white garments seemed to be that of an animal's. No. He was definitely a man beneath the village leader's standard long robe. I could tell by more than just the pair of strong, tan hands that hung from his sleeves; but by his tall posture as well, resembling that of a human being's.

"You're smarter than the average rogue." He suddenly cleared the silence, letting me hear again his deep, rich voice with that slight rasp. "A _lot_ smarter…I looked through the rogue ninja records of Konohagakure expecting to find your file in there, but instead, I ended up finding you in the _dead_ninja records. Did you fake your own death?"

I stared into the long slants of his iris-less pupils for a moment more before shaking my head the best that I sorely could.

"Well…" He stepped closer to the light, before bending down to my level to reveal himself completely, much to my horror. "You're definitely not _dead_, Hinata Hyuga."

I swallowed the taste of iron in my saliva, barely managing to soothe myself from the terribly fearsome sight before me. The man with the head of a wolf stared me down upon his declaration like he'd just been lied to. Angrily, he just glared me in the eyes, locking his gaze on me as if I were a trapped prey. Even worse than that was the look of his fangs as he spoke. They were long, thick, and pearly-white, more than just obviously built perfectly for shredding apart skin and pulverizing through bone.

"Age, twenty-seven. Birthdate, December twenty-seventh. Height, five-five. Gender, female, Blood type, A." He began reciting my information, almost like he'd known it by heart. "Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan. Village of birth, Konohagakure. Current affiliations…_None_."

The beast abruptly pulled up a chair that remained by the wall and he shoved it towards me as I resultantly jolted with alarm. He aggressively swung himself upon the puny, wooden furniture to take a seat and lean over in my direction, his arms planted firmly upon his lap. "You know what they do with ninja like you? Rogues? You should be wanted, but you're not, because according to your file, you're _dead_. Now how did _that _happen, huh?"

"Deal…" I croaked out, barely able to whisper, let alone speak. Being silent about my situation would have probably turned me into dead woman as I was meant to be anyway. This beast didn't seem like the kind to be pushed over or let me off the hook without a good explanation. "Deal…With Hokage-Sama…"

The creature's brown and tan fur slowly came to hang over his eyes, resembling something very close to a confused frown. The expression was so very human upon his otherwise animalistic features.

"To let me…Run…" I managed. "If…Call regularly…To prove…A-alive-!"

Without my command, my body twisted over and had me hurl blood at the floor, as I'd forced myself over my limit. Along with that came the shock of this village's leader almost immediately grabbing me to keep me from falling out of the bed. Unlike what I'd expected, his grip was gentle; firm, yet gentle. He held me like a baby, almost; literally rushing to my aide.

"Okay, that's enough…" He murmured quietly, fetching a wet towel from the guard as she panicked over to my side. "You'll tell me when you're better…Sorry, I should have known you weren't feeling well enough to try and talk right now. That was _my _bad."

I didn't even try to take the blame for myself as he carefully helped me lay on my back and get situated into the bed again. The beast's expression changed this time around. His rough edges had softened; his features becoming placid as he took a long sigh.

"Keep resting." He stood, brushing himself off. The blood I'd stained him with failed to be more than merely noticed by his quick eyes. "And get used to having the crap scared out of you every time you see me…I'll be looking like this for a while."

I wondered for a moment what the wolf-man meant by his selective choice of words, but found my thoughts to be useless either way, as I couldn't voice them out.

"Not a word about my identity to her." He turned to the female guard, who saluted him briskly upon the order. "As a foreigner to the village, she can't know. I'll be determining if and when it's safe for her to have that kinda knowledge about this whole place…And _me_, for that matter."

"Yes, sir." The guard, Hikari, nodded affirmatively, destroying any little chance I had to having the mess I got caught up in explained to me.

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><p><strong>AN: Ooh, mystery! O.o Reviews thanked in advance! :)<strong>


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